Glove-cleaning machine



Patented Aug. 5, 1924.

UNITED STATES LEQBJIQ PATENT oFFicE.

FRANCIS C. W'. STEL'IER, OF LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK.

GLOVE-GLEANING MACHINE.

Appiication filed May 29, 1922. serial No. 564,656.

To all whom t may concern.'

' Be it known that I, FRANCIS C. W. STEL- TER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Long Island City, Queens County, State `of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Glove-CleaningMachine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device designed primarily for removing.spots from the finger tips of gloves, due to perspiraation or othercauses, vbut it is also adapted for cleaning gloves in general. A deviceembodying it is very simple in construction and easily operated and maybe made of such size as to be easily moved about and may be operatedfrom any suitable source of power. It includes a receptacle or tank forthe cleaning fluid and a pair of rotary cylindrical brushes makingsurface contact in the receptacle so connected that the meeting surfacesmove downward and are at the upper portion of the receptacle above theliquid level and in convenient position to receive the glove to be`treated from above between them. One novel feature is that one of .thebrushes is mounted on movable bearings so that' it may move toward oraway from the othery brush and press to a greater or less `extent on theglove caught between them and in yielding mea-nsV tending to press thebrushestogether. The brushes are operatively Vconnectedtogether by gearwheels and idler gears on the outer i side of "the receptacle in agrease case and theyserve to cause the brushes to rotate in Oppositedirections with theV meeting-surfaces moving down. Another novel featureconsists in the cover for the receptacle composed of two sections spacedapart -longitudinally a slight distance forming a narrow openingimmediately'. above. the meeting surfaces of the brushes 'with the edgesof the opening turned downwardly'close to the surface of the brushes soas to permit the glove to Venter .butjpreventA the brushes from throwingliquid upward out ofV the receptacle during rotation.r The Anovelfeatures will be more fully understood 50, from thefollowing.description and claims taken with the drawings.

In the drawings l? ig. 1 is a side view of a device embody- Fig. 3 is asection on the line 3-3 of F ig. i

1 extending ratus, and F ig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectionthrough the top portion of the device showing the cover and brushes.`

In the embodiment of the 'invention shown for purposes of illustrationthe receptacle or tank 1() is` of rectangular shape and is adapted tocontain a cleaning liquid which is normally kept at a level materiallybelow the top of the receptacle. In this tank there is a cylindricalbrush 11 mounted on a rotary shaft 12 which extends through the sides ofthereceptacle and is mounted in fixed bearings carried by the sides. Theupper surface of'this brush is near the top of the receptacle andthe'lower surface is below the normal fluid level in the receptacle. Theprojecting end of shaft part way through the appa- 1 9 on one side ofthe receptacle has a drive pulley 13 which may be operated by a beltdrive from any suitable source of vpower to 4cause the rotation of theshaft and brush.

The end of shaft 12 projecting from the other side of the receptacle hasmounted on it a'gear wheel 14. Two idler gears 15 and 16 are mounted onfixed' pivot bearings 17 and 18 connected to the side of the receptacle'at a lower `level than the" gear wheel 14 and .these two gears havetheir axes on the same horizontal plane and are in mesh with each other.The idler gear 15 is also in mesh with the gear lwheel 14 of brush .11.Two upwardly extending members 19 and 2 0 which maybe in the form offlat metalbars are pivoted to fixed pivot bearings `at their lower endson the outer sides of the tank in alignment with the axis of the vidlergear 16 so'that they may have swinging motion longitudinally of the tankon an axis coincident with the axis of the idler gear 16. A-brush 21which is of the arc-shaped slots 22 in the side walls of the receptacle10 and have rotary bearing supports 28 in the arms 19 and 2O a sufcientdistance from the lower ends of those arms to make the brush 21 occupy aposition spaced the same distance from the upper end Yof the receptacleas the brush 11`and in use the surface of the brush .21 facing brush 11is in contact with brush 11.

On the projecting end of shaft 41 carrying brush 21 and on the outerside of arm 19 there is a gear wheel 42 similar to the gear wheel 14 andit is in constant mesh with idler gear 16 in any and all positions ofadjustment of brush 21 since its axis moves in the are ofva circle withthe axis of gear 16 as its center. It is thus apparent that when poweris applied through drive wheel 13 to turn brush 11 in a clockwise direction in the arrangement shown in Fig. 1

the lbrush 21 will by the connecting chain of gears be driven in ananti-clockwise direction. On each side of the receptacle 10 there is anelongated coiled spring one of which, 2&1, is connected at one end 25 toa fixed projection from the side of the receptacle and at its other end26 to the up per end of the arm 19. The corresponding coiled spring 27on the other side is similarly connected to a fixed part of thereceptacle and to the upper end of member 20.

These springs are under tension and tend 4 to turn the arms 19 and 20 ontheir pivots pressing the brush 21 yieldingly against brush 11 withsubstantially uniform pressure and this furthermore serves t0 take upfor any wear of the brushes. A short rod Q28 is p-ivotally connected tothe upper end of the arm 19 and passes through an opening at the end ofthe receptacle and has a lthumb nut 29 on the outer side for regulatingthe movement of the arm 19 on its pivot. A similar rod 30 is pivotallyconnected to VThe cover for the receptacle preferably consists of twosections,the section 32 being in fixed position with side edges fittingaround the outer surface of the receptacle and having its inner edgedownwardly curved at 33 close to the surface of the brush 2l. Thesection 34 has side flanges fitting the sides of the receptacle at thetop and a hinge connection 35 to the receptacle near thel end and itsinner end opposite the end 33 of section 32 is curved downwardly at 36leaving a narrow opening transverse of the receptacle immediately overthe meeting surfaces of the brushes 11 and 21 so as to permit thepassage of a glove downwardly between the edges tol be gripped by thebrush and cleaned. A grease box 38 open on one side is hinged on avertical hinge 39 to the side of the receptacle on which the gear wheelson the ends of the brushes are located and fits around those gear wheelsand the idler gears 15 and 16 and the member 19 forming with that side.of the receptacle an enclosed grease container for the gears. In ordert0 prevent the fluid material lin the receptacle from escaping throughthe arc-shaped slots 22 in which the shaft 23 moves, washers L10surrounding the shaft 23 andmoving with it may extend over the fulllength of the slot when the member 19'is in any position. There is, ofcourse, a similar washer on the other side of the machine covering theother slot.

Although one specific embodiment of the invention is shown for purposesof illustration, it will be understood that it is not limited to thedetails of that form beyond what is indicated in the claims.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A glove. cleaning device comprising in combination a receptacle forcleaning fluid, a pair of parallel rotary cylindrical brushes extendingacross said receptacle making longitudinal contact with each other,their upper surfaces lbeing close to the topv of 'said receptacle andtheir lower surfaces below the normal liquid level, a cover for saidreceptacle having a narrow opening in line with and directly'albove'themeeting surfaces of said brushes its fac-ing edges being formed :bydownwardly curved edge portions of said cover close to the surfaces o-fsaid brushes, and means for simultaneously rotating said brushes inopposite directions so that their meeting surfaces below said openingwill move downward.

2. A glove cleaning device comprising in combination a receptacle forcleaning fluid, a pair of parallel rotary cylindrical brushes extendingacross said receptacle making longitudinal contact with each other,their uppersurfaces being close to the top of said 'receptacle andtheirlower surfaces below the normal liquid level, a cover for saidreceptacle having a narrow opening in line with and'directly above themeeting surfaces of said brushes its facing edges being formed bydownwardly curved edge portions of said cover close to thesur aces ofsaid brushes, and `means for simultaneously rotaping said brushes inopposite .directions so tiat their meeting'surfaces below said openingwill move downward, one4 of said brushes being movable towards or awayfrom theother and yielding means constantly tending t0 press it againstthe other brush and thumlb screws for moving said brush.

3. A glovec'leaningl device comprising in combination a receptacle forcleaning fluid, a pair of parallel rotary cylindrical brushes extendingacross said receptacle making Vlongitudinal Vcontact with each other,their upper surfaces being close to the top of said receptacle and theirlower surfaces below the normal liquid level, a cover for saidreceptacle having a narrow opening in line with and directly above themeeting surfaces of said brushes its facing edges being formed bydownwardly curved edge portions of said cover close t0 the surfaces ofsaid brushes, gear connection between said brushes including two idlergears on the outer side of said receptacle causing said brushes torotate in opposite directions, and means on'the outside of saidreceptacle applied to one brush for Vcausing continuous rotation of saidbrushes causing their meeting surfaces to move downward.

4. A glove cleaning device comprising in combination a receptacle forcleaning fluid, a pair of parallel rotary cylindrical brushes extendingacross said receptacle making longitudinal contact with each other,their uppe-r surfaces being close to the top of said receptacle andtheir lower surfaces below the normal liquid level, a cover for saidreceptacle composed of two sections spaced apart longitudinally a shortdistance forming a narrow opening between them directly above themeeting surfaces of said brushes eac-h section having a down turned endportion at said opening, and one of said sections'having hingeconnection with said receptacle near one end to give access to theinterior, and means for so rotating said brushes that their meetingsurfaces move downward.

5. A glove cleaning device comprising in combination a rectangularreceptacle for cleaning fluid, a pair of parallel cylindrical brusheshaving surface contact mounted on rotary shaft-s extending through andprojecting beyond the upper port-ion of the side walls of saidreceptacle, a pair of gear wheels mounted on the ends of said shaftsprojecting from one side of said receptacle, Ya pair of meshing idlergears in mesh with and operatively connecting said gear wheels, and

means on the end of one of said shafts projecting from the opposite sideof said receptacle to continuously rotatively drive it.

6. A glove cleaning device comprising in combination a rectangularreceptacle for cleaning fluid, a pair of parallel cylindrical brusheshaving surface Contact mounted on rotary shafts extending through andprojecting beyond the upper portion of the side walls of saidreceptacle, a pair of gear wheels mounted on the ends of said shaftsprojecting from one side of said receptacle, a pair of meshing idlergears in mesh with and operatively connecting said gear wheels and meanson the end of one of said shafts projecting from the opposite side ofsaid receptacle to continuously rotatively drive it, an enclosed greaseboX for said gear wheels, idler gears and the ends of the shafts at theside of said receptacle.

7. A glove cleaning device comprising in combination a rectangularreceptacle for cleaning fluid, a pair of parallel cylindrical brusheshaving surface contact mounted on rotary shafts extending through andprojecting beyond the upper portion of the side walls of saidreceptacle, a pair of gear wheels mounted on the ends of said shaftsprojecting from one side of said receptacle,

a pair of meshing idler gears in mesh with l and operatively connectingsaid gear wheels, andmeans on the end of one of said shafts, projectingfrom the opposite side of said receptacle, to continuously rotativelydrive it, the said brush shaft having the driving means thereon beingmounted in stationary bearings and the other brush shaft having bearingsupports adapted to move in the arcs of circles having their centers onthe center line of the axis of the idler gear in mesh with the gearwheel on that shaft.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aliix my signature.

FRANCIS C. W. STELTER.

